France's Hollande says will finish mandate, rejects "anti-poor" jibe

NEWPORT, Wales, Sept 5 (Reuters) - French President Francois
Hollande said on Friday he would stay in office until the end of
his mandate in 2017 despite his record low opinion poll ratings,
and defended himself vigorously against a suggestion he disliked
the poor.

Hollande is on the defensive as his approval ratings hit
ever lower levels in a stalling economy, dissent builds within
his Socialist Party, and critics raise the possibility of
calling a general election.

"I was elected for five years by the French people. I am
half way through my mandate," he told a news conference after a
NATO summit.

"There is no poll, as difficult as it may be... that can
interrupt the mandate the people have given to the president of
the Republic," he said when asked whether he might bring an
early end to his own presidency given the fragile state of the
economy, high unemployment and his unpopularity.

Further cementing his status as France's least popular
post-war president, Hollande's approval rating hit a record low
13 percent in August, according to a poll published on
Thursday.

A poll published on Friday by Ifop for Le Figaro newspaper
found that Hollande, who took power in 2012, would lose a
second-round head-to-head presidential vote to extreme-right
National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

"My duty is not to yield in the face of I don't know what
pressure," Hollande told journalists. "It's to resolve the big
questions facing France and I won't stray from my
responsibility."

France's economy has seen zero growth this year so far and
unemployment has reached record levels, standing at 10.2 percent
in the second quarter.

Hollande has reshuffled his government twice since May, and
this week, after the poll was taken, his ex-partner published a
book that said he made fun of poor people in private.

In her book, Valerie Trierweiler described the Socialist
leader as being dismissive of the poor.

"He presented himself as a man who disliked the rich," said
Trierweiler, a journalist.

"In reality, the president doesn't like the poor. In
private, this man - the left-winger - calls them 'the toothless'
and is so pleased at how funny he is."

Hollande brushed aside a question about whether the book
brought the French presidency into disrepute, but went out of
his way to say he was entirely devoted to helping the poor.

"I won't allow to be brought into question something I have
stood for all my life... and notably the human relationship I
have with the weakest, the most modest, the humblest, the
poorest, because I am here to serve them and they are my reason
for existence," he said.

The president ended his seven-year relationship with the
49-year old Trierweiler after his affair with an actress came to
light in January.

Her book, which shot to the top of Amazon.fr French
bestseller list this week and is already out of stock in many
bookstores, is further undermining his image, already hurt by
broken promises to turn around joblessness and the stagnating
economy.

Hollande had to reshuffle his government last month for a
second time this year after left-wing members openly called into
question his deficit-cutting strategy.

Eager to contain growing dissent in the ruling Socialist
Party, Hollande's prime minister, Manuel Valls, has called a
confidence vote in parliament for Sept. 16.
(Writing by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Andrew Callus)